The Poor Will Always Be with Us

I had a conversation with a friend once about the problematic nature of continually giving to the poor. To be clear, I wasn’t having this conversation with a modern-day Scrooge. Phil is quite generous with his time, talent, and treasure. In fact, he was wrestling between his deep desire to help people in need and what he called “the entitlement nature of the poor.”

“I mean, the Bible says, ‘If you don’t work you don’t eat,’ so maybe there is such a thing as giving too much?” he asked me that day. As a person with deep roots in the evangelical tradition, I was very familiar with the verse Phil cited and its role in framing a theological understanding of why some poor folks should struggle a little more for their meals. “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat’” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). That verse, coupled with the oft-quoted reminder from Jesus “The poor you will always have with you” in Mark 14:7, had taught Phil not to get caught up in the trap of helping too much, lest the poor fail to learn the lessons they needed about the choices that had led them to fall on such hard times.

I suspect many of us grew up like Phil. I know I did. While I would never have said it aloud, my helping the poor always came with a hint of judgment. And it was supported by Scripture. I was not so subtly taught to interpret these two verses through the lens of the not-actually-a-Bible verse that says “God helps those who help themselves.” But we know that’s not how God designed the world to work. There is so much in Scripture about the kind of generosity we’re called to offer those in need. Scripture makes clear that all of God’s creation is for all of us, even those of us who need a lot of help.

Let’s take a closer look at the words of Jesus in Mark 14:7. After “The poor you will always have with you,” the verse continues, “and you can help them any time you want.” To provide even more context, consider that Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy—a text that any Jewish person would have known because they would have learned it from childhood: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded to your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:11). Our present-day truncated version, “Be careful not to help too much,” has replaced God’s call to action on behalf of the poor with a justification for our resignation.

Ironically, resignation can look very busy when it comes to responding to poverty. We’ve just come through the holiday season where our charity engines were on overdrive. But it should be said that charity, while important, is incomplete without justice. Our poor neighbors who found joy in our charity throughout the holidays are probably back to battling hunger.

Recently our congregation spent time reading a book that unpacks the charity/justice paradox, Poverty, by America. The author, Matthew Desmond, is a preacher’s kid who grew up in poverty and is now a sociologist at Princeton. In this book, he peels back the curtain on how our charity and other choices perpetuate poverty. It’s an important read for anyone trying to love your poor neighbor as yourself.

God invites us to a life of openhanded generosity and justice. Markets will crash. Jobs will be lost. Surprises will come. Indeed, the poor will always be with us. Even so, Scripture is clear. No one is supposed to walk these difficult roads alone.